The Pro Football Hall of Fame Continues to Disrespect the Denver Broncos

Aug 3, 2014; Canton, OH, USA; General view of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Once again on Saturday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the writers who vote on it proved that they have very little respect for what the Denver Broncos have accomplished in 55 years of playing football. Terrell Davis was passed over for enshrinement again and while that’s a complete injustice, the disrespect towards the Broncos is a complete joke.

Let’s start with the case for Davis. Yes is career was shortened due to injury but the last time I looked it was the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of I Played a long time. On a day when Davis was passed over, Jerome Bettis made it. Bettis had a nice career and maybe he belongs but he’s not even in the same class as Davis.

Everyone has their own idea of what Hall of Famer is but here’s mine. If a player was the best at their position and the history of the time period they played in cannot be written without their name being included, then they probably belong.

For three seasons from 1996 to 1998 Davis was not only the best running back in the league, he was the best player. He won the MVP in 1998 and was the Super Bowl MVP the season before. Davis rushed for 2,000 yards during his MVP season and finished his career with an astounding 4.6 yards per carry. In those three seasons Davis ran for 5,296 yards and if you throw in his rookie season of 1995, it was even more impressive. He ran for over 6,400 yards and 56 touchdowns over a four year period, which should be Hall of Fame Worthy.

We haven’t talked about the playoffs yet where Davis was arguably the greatest postseason running back in NFL history. The Broncos would not have won back-to-back Super Bowls in the late 90’s without Davis. His 1997 performance in the postseason is the stuff of legend. In four postseason games, Davis ran for 581 yards and eight touchdowns. That included 157 yards and three touchdowns in the Super Bowl, and he missed an entire quarter with a migraine.

In his postseason career, Davis ran for 1,140 yards in eight games. That’s an average of 142.5 yards per game, easily the best in NFL history. He also added 12 touchdowns in those eight games.

These so call experts talk all the time about how great players, Hall of Fame players, step up at the big moments. That definition defines Davis; the bigger the game, the better he played. In addition to the numbers on the field, Davis was named to the all-pro team three times. For what it’s worth, Bettis was only named to that team twice in a much longer career and was never considered the best at his position.

Davis belongs in the Hall of Fame and I believe he will get in at some point but the disrespect that has been shown to him points to a larger issue.

The Broncos have been to seven Super Bowls, won two, have the fourth most regular season wins since 1970 and have only four players in the Hall of Fame. Those numbers just do not compute. By comparison the Kansas City Chiefs have 13 Hall of Famers despite only winning one Super Bowl. They also haven’t won a playoff game in over 20 years. That’s not to say those players do not belong but they should be more than four Broncos.

If Davis had put up the same numbers, including the Super Bowl victories, with the Dallas Cowboys or New York Giants, he would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer. I firmly believe that.

The Hall of Fame is supposed to be about greatness and Davis was great in the regular season, and iconic in the playoffs.

It’s past time for Davis to get the call to Canton and well past time for the Hall of Fame and the writers to acknowledge the greatness of the Broncos as a franchise.